How to keep record of opponents?

[sunek]

Hi all

I am a newbie when it comes to playing poker. I am beginning to get a grip on the basics. However I have found out that many poker players make notes about their opponents and keep records and statistics of them as well, and use this information to improve their winnings (and reduce their losses).
How is this done? Notes are of cause made by hand, but are the statistics done automatically by some sort of software or are it done by hand as well? Which brings me to the next question; how is it possible to follow a game and make notes and statistics at the same time?
My last question (for now) is when you have all these notes; I guess you can have records of several hundreds of players, how do order them so you can use them fast and effective? Do you use a database or other kinds of tools?

Best regards

Sune

[SheridanCat]

For online play at the major sites, PokerTracker makes keeping stats very easy. PartyPoker, for example, saves hand histories onto your hard drive and the PokerTracker software reads those hand histories to compile statistical profiles on both your play and the play of your opponents. You can have a database of thousands of opponents all available at any time. There are complimentary tools that read those stats and actually display them on the screen next to the players at your table so you know the tendencies of your opponents at a glance. As for notes, the major online services all have a facility for typing notes that are linked to players.

For live play, you can keep notes on players and their tendencies. Good, regular players keep track of their opponents. I've read of some players who keep a notebook where they keep notes on their opponents. If you play the same people a lot, it shouldn't be to hard to keep this type of book. If you're only an occasional player, you may not recognize people often enough for this to make sense.

Regards,

T

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